


Before Sundown

by Marvolo2526



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AMS, Askmercyseries fic, Blood and Violence, F/F, Gun Violence, Strong Languages, TCoM, The Consequence of Mercy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-07
Packaged: 2018-07-12 05:14:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7086787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvolo2526/pseuds/Marvolo2526
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To fight against the Anti-Monsters Cult, being on the defensive forever was not safe. Monsterkind’s protectors had to do something.</p><p>This is what happen after "The Consequence of Mercy" (by Firekitten), ninety minutes later.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Firekitten](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firekitten/gifts), [sai_shou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sai_shou/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Consequence of Mercy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6350233) by [Firekitten](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firekitten/pseuds/Firekitten). 



> Disclaimers: I don’t own Undertale© and/or any character of it. Undertale© is the property of Toby Fox, and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only. 
> 
> Like it's say above, This fic has inspiration for from "The Consequence of Mercy" by Firekitten which is a fanfiction of Askmercyseries by Sai_Shou again. So this is a Fanfiction of Fanfiction (=Fiception? xDD). If you are never read TCoM before, I suggestion you to read it first. It's really awesome story! You can follow that like above or just right click and go to here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6350233
> 
> And if you never hear about Askmercyseries before (THAT IS POSSIBLE? HOW DO YOU GET HERE?, no just kidding xDD) You have to read it! Go to this blog: http://askmercyseries.tumblr.com/ or you can read in arcs section only from this site: http://askmercyseries.weebly.com/ You can't miss a piece of art like this series guys! You have to check on it!
> 
> This fiction was original writing in Thai language. Has a first roughly translate by me. And Editing/re-translate by Firekitten (to made it more readable for Human. If you saw my translate version before, you will understand what I say xDD) Thank you again Jad for all of this. You are my Saviour! 
> 
> Timeline of Before Sundown was in between TCoM and "The Last Genocide" arc. Witch was a present canon arc of Askmercy. This fic was written before TLG arc began. So that's mean I didn't know who was a real Anti-Monsters Leader at that time. haha :p
> 
> This fic was full of non-canon to Askmercy and terminology like police/military radio code. so I have to notes it at the bottom by each part.
> 
> Notes from the Translator (Firekitten): Hey everyone! It was a joy to do the re-translation for Marvolo! I really hope those of you who take the time to read this enjoy it as much as I did!

* * *

 

After monsterkind returned back to surface and established a relationship with the humans again, the radical terrorist group called “The Anti-Monsters” appeared as a blatant shout-out against the existence of monsterkind. They threatened and performed many gruesome attacks as if they’d been waiting for the opportunity to slit a Monster’s throat by their own hands for a long time.

 

Frisk, the last and the only human who survived from Mount Ebott, became ambassador of monsterkind, fighting with everything she has to claim a safe and secure future for all monsters. Many new monster laws have been passed. Their rights, freedoms and wellbeing of newcomers were officially endorsed. Relations between the two races are on the rise and looking hopeful. Frisk squeezed her Determination out working on this endeavor and she made it worth every single drop.

 

However, only in so many aspects was there success.

 

Invisible walls still stood large… Issues about the Anti-Monsters group were never considered as an important agenda. A mysterious, invisible power seemed to protect these terrorists for some nasty purposes. It was all about politics (but everyone knows that). The right-winged members who are against the newcomers were still an important bastion of constituents in the allied-democratic world. That’s why every time Frisk stood up in the meetings and mentioned the mysterious group of people who wore the symbolic monster-resistance masks and were committing these violent, nasty crimes, it would be brushed off as nothing more than a few psychotic killers – just separate opportunists, creating tragedies with different objectives and different agendas; no patterns, no signs, no references that could link them together at all.

 

 

“The Anti-Monster group is non-existent!” They shamelessly spit out the lie, “It is just a myth that psychopaths are using as an excuse.”

 

Even the power of Determination and the clear, strong evidence cannot easily overrule bias.

 

Horrific, bloody attacks began to occur, several incidents happening within just a few months. During the rapid rise of monsterkind, their measures became more aggressive, the ultimate goal seemingly  to be taking out the ambassador and those close to her. Fourteen months ago, Frisk was ambushed by the assassin group who wore the Anti-Monsters’ symbol. The result was her fiancé (they married later) getting seriously injured while all eight attackers died. Ten months ago, she was kidnapped by terrorists and got tortured just three-days before her wedding. Frisk’s rescue mission lead to more than a hundred terrorists being killed in action and it became one of the most violent conflicts in the Anti-Monsters group’s history. Six months ago, the Sunnyside Orphanage was raided and twenty-two children and four caretakers were massacred by the knife-wielding killers. Only eight children survived the incident; two of whom were Caroline and Azrial who later got adopted by Frisk and her husband.

 

Today, the ambassador received texts with threats to kill her children and husband, forcing her to nearly pull the trigger on Mayor Weatherford at the Sci-Tech project’s launching party, the first formally scientific cooperation between monsters and humans. The assassination of a senior partner like Weatherford would easily make an impact severe enough to lead to war between the two races again.

 

The assassination plan did not succeed. Frisk found a way to send a signal for help to her backup team and the threat was eliminated in time. Chara and her children were secure. Weatherford did not even recognize the situation had occurred. Disaster was narrowly avoided again.

 

But being on the defensive forever was not safe. Monsterkind’s protectors had to do something.

 

This is what happened after the failed Mayor Weatherford assassination plot, ninety minutes later.

 

* * *

 

Headquarters of the monsters’ security agency was on fire.

 

Chara trudged through the hallway with her grim face. Evening sun shined through the shutter blinds, becoming dozens of lines of light. Some of them touched on her cinnabar eyes and made them shine like jewels. But right now, no one was interested in her. Everyone in the office was busy with the rush of data flowing in by the millions. The threat of the ambassador’s life and family and the mayor’s near assassination rose the Intelligence Division’s alertness to the point of insanity. The sound of keyboard typing was synchronized, the monster officers calling out codes and sending information to each other like a hectic prayer. The computer screens flashed in all facilities with the images changing almost every second; a map, a plan of an urban environment, a numbers diagram, swarming over the monitors, inducing dizziness to anyone watching.

 

Four large TV screens above the heads of everyone were projecting a breaking news story from around the world. Currently, it showed Mayor Weatherford smiling wide while shaking hands with the chief scientist of monsters. Computer graphics beneath the news announced the first human-monster science facility’s grand opening before switching to other news reports. No special report, no mention of the assassination, not even a half a word.

 

Chara walked around to the back of the office, needing to slow down to avoid a few of the busy monsters along the way until she stopped at one of the translucent glass doors. She gazed at the small light bar above the handrail until it turned green, pushing it open.

 

Even with the door half-open, the commanding voice and the thick, stressful atmosphere within penetrated through like radiation.

 

“Contact?”

 

“Not yet.”

 

“Alphys?”

 

“S-Still scanning. Hold on.”

 

The roar was so unique, one didn’t even need to see her to know who she was. “We’re running out of time now! We have to drag that bastard out into the light before sundown- -”

 

Chara stepped across the threshold, shutting the door. “Have anything yet, Undyne?”

 

Everyone in the room turned to sound in unison. All of them are familiar monsters who were highly trusted: Captain of the Royal Guard for the monster kingdom, who was standing in front of the large monitors on the wall; next was the Royal Guard couple (both Frisk and Chara never bothered to ask their names, not even once); the dog pair from Snowdin; not so far from them is Papyrus, who was currently busy with a phone call; and the last is Alphys, who was still dressed up from the party but was only wearing the white underskirt. Her two hands beat at the computer’s keyboard rapidly and intensely.

 

Chara could feel the tense atmosphere of the chase. The focus to find something which was currently invisible. Something that she was going to get herself into.

 

“Babyfish?” Undyne frowned, while Chara absently wondered when was the last time that her new mother figure called her by her real name. “Why are you here? I told you to stay with the family in the safe house. They also want your head, you know that!”

 

“Sit tight and just wait for someone to come kill us? Not anymore.”  Walking in close, Chara could see the details displayed on all the screens. It was a list of monsters that worked in the security force; Alphys’s PC applications were searching for something among them… Why? “Sans said we got some interesting information from the guy we caught at the park. He said that I would probably like to know it. What is it? We have anything?”

 

“Sans?”

 

“Yes, he’s with Frisk and children at the safe house now. Toriel is there too”

 

Undyne sighed heavily, with traces of relief mingled in it. “Okay, now we can finally cut that lazy bones out of the list.”

 

“The list?”

 

“The member of the Anti-Monsters that we caught said he got the information from someone who is an insider. Ah – a monster… Some monsters have been secretly sending information to the terrorists.” Alphys answered without looking up from the screen. She selected Sans’ name from the list and removed it from the searching directory. “Whether it was the address, the phone number, children, adopted name, work schedule, everything – anything. They told it all.”

 

Undyne described more, “But they didn’t talk to each other directly. Between the killer and the double agent they had a high ranking member to be a mediator for the two. Even though we caught the gunman, we still have no way of knowing who our subject is. We have to find them by ourselves.”

 

The interlocutor squinted at her, so Chara demanded, “And?”

 

“And…” The Head of the Royal Guard breathed heavily. “I think the traitor has to be someone who is very close to us… dangerously close.”

 

Silence reigned over the atmosphere. Chara looked into the interlocutor’s eyes, not even blinking.

 

Undyne turned her voice down a bit, something in the information making her feel uncomfortable, “The guys in charge of those blackmail messages sent them straight to Frisk’s personal phone. Less than twenty people know that number. According to the security procedures, Frisk must change her private number every three months… that means this guy could access the most updated information. I’m not sure how much they sold it out.”

 

Chara chuckled. It was an automatic reaction; a bad habit that she tried to get rid of for so long but never succeeded: laughing mockingly when she was faced with bad situations. Once it had even hurt the heart of the one she loved most. Though she regretted it, it never changed. “‘There are a lot of Floweys out there.’ Heh. Mate, you didn’t know anything…”

 

Undyne looked at her. “What did you say?”

 

“No, nothing” The first fallen human turned to the monster pictures on the screen. “Canine unit? All of the old Royal Guard team?”

 

“The group of people that I trust the most are also the most suspicious.”

 

The half-fish monster pointed at two faces on the screen, the details of both guards appearing on the other screen automatically.

 

“After the incident at the orphanage, I raised the level of security by providing an undercover bodyguard to follow all of your family members almost around the clock. Whenever anyone left the house, these two were always watching.”

 

“Without telling us?”

 

“I’m sorry I took the liberty of doing that but, speaking frankly, you and Frisk knew all along right? We weren’t trying to cover it up that much. Just enough so it didn’t make the kids embarrassed. …I needed to give Frisk’s private number to these guys. She is the number one priority of the security department. We needed to be able to reach out and contact her at any time.”

 

“And then, one of them betrayed us.” Chara carefully looked at the profiles of the two separate monsters. “Lost contact, the current address has not been specified yet… These two dogs are the top suspects now? Doggo and Greater Dog?”

 

“Well, these two turned off their cellphones before the incident. And we still can’t find their current position even now.” Alphys pointed to the screen. “The only thing we know is Greater Dog signed for undercover duty in this building at nine o’clock this morning. Doggo turned off their cellphone yesterday. We’re, uh – trying to track down their movements as much as possible. We looked at bank accounts, passports, email, online accounts, everything! Even the face-scanning program on live CCTV. There must be some camera that saw them. We just have to wait for it.”

 

Guard duty? …Something made Chara strangely concerned. “Today was the big guy’s duty? I didn't sense him at all.”

 

“Right, he signed in and is completely gone. That’s why the shooter could approach you.”

 

“Are we going to visit him?”

 

“Lesser Dog is about to arrive at the big guy’s home in just a few minutes.”

 

“Alone? You sure he’s got it?”

 

“We will see.”

 

The younger raised her eyebrow. “You don’t believe the big guy did it, is that it?”

 

The other woman was quiet a few moments. “I don’t want to believe it was someone at all; how dare they humiliate me like this.”

 

“U-Undyne…” Papyrus rose a hand, calling attention while looking down at his cellphone uncertainly. “Lesser arrived already. He said he found Greater.”

 

“Good. Now tell the big guy to pick up that phone and report where the hell he was – – ”

 

No reaction. Papyrus was still looking at the screen, motionless as if something had frozen him entirely.

 

“Papyrus?”

 

He drew a deep breath. Replied in a hushed voice, “I’ll send it up on the screen now.” The monitor on the wall flashed, a photo appearing.

 

All of the monster guards were stunned. Alphys covered her mouth with a hand. Papyrus wouldn’t even look at the screen again.

 

It was a picture of a big pile of white, floury dust spread on black floor tiles. The armor looked familiar, buried in the white dust. A red symbol was sprayed on that armor, a crossed out face of a monster. It was a symbol of death.

 

_Anti-Monsters._

 

In the heavy silence, Chara glanced at the glowing topaz eye of the head of the Royal Guard silently. Sympathy was not one of the core skills Chara had, but being with Frisk and having the opportunity to experience so many good things was enough remember that feeling… For Undyne, all of the Royal Guard were not just subordinates to her, but friends, brothers-in-arms, the best soldiers picked by her own hands. Teaching and training them until their skills were primed. Living together long enough to trust them like family. The family that she promised to protect with her own life.

 

Nothing hurt more than seeing what one loves shattered in front of their eyes.

 

“… Alphys.” Undyne sounded low and eerie. “Can you analyze it? How long ago that was?”

 

Alphys, still stunned, stared at the picture with wide eyes. She had to raise her voice.

 

“Alphys!”

 

“O-Okay,” She jerked hard. She placed her fingers on the keyboard, zooming in on the powdered snow. “Rate – eh – the ratio of reflected light is very low. The spirit molecules anchored are – well – declining. It seems to have occurred no less than fifteen hours ago.”

 

“Since last night, so, they weren’t killed to be silenced.” Chara analyzed, “And if he died during the night, how did he sign on for duty the next morning?”

 

The chief of the Royal Guard turned to the scientist. “Let’s pull footage from the sign-in room’s camera and compare the time with the clock-in database.”

 

The window of the registered records appeared first. The big fluffy dog smiled in the picture like he never knew any cruelty in the world; everyone who saw that felt their hearts break deep inside. The records said he signed in at 9:00 am., which was already known. Seconds later, the video image from the CCTV was playing alongside the picture. It was just black and white footage, but the quality was good enough to see the details clearly.

 

The image was from a high angle, revealing a canine monster with a medium-sized build. He put an ID card on the record machine at exactly 9: 00 am.

 

Dark and white hairs, a leather jacket, and a unique, metal-barbed collar.

 

That was him; Doggo.

 

  
_The traitor._

 

Suddenly, the computer made a sound, signaling it found something. Alphys pressed on the keyboard to read the details “Wow, bravo! Doggo just sent a request for withdrawal and closed his deposit account. At the bank on Riverside Road, eighty-four, cross – Ah … fifteen! Riverside eighty-four cross fifteen! Five minutes away from here.”

 

“Can you hold it?”

 

“I – I’m trying.” The monster woman tapped on keyboard quickly, “I can hinder the bank’s calculation system, but probably for no more than ten minutes. They’ll notice if it’s slower than that.”

 

“That’s good enough Alphys, you’re the best.” Undyne felt the shadow that passed by, before seeing her foster daughter storming towards the exit door. She leapt out, grabbing her shoulder. “Chara wait!”

 

When she turned, it was the room instead that was taken aback; her eyes had become deep shadows, red irises shining, glowing like the flames in coals on a cold night. Even those familiar with the transition still felt a cold shiver vigorously flare down their body.

 

“I know you’re angry, I’m mad too.” Undyne swallowed. “But listen to me, we – can’t – kill – him.”

 

“Why?” That voice sounded like a deep roar of a beast.

 

“One, he’s a benefit; the killer that they sent out was just a little fish, like that ghost guy, Mark. They don’t know anything really useful. But this is an agent who had direct contact with those in the leader’s ranking of the group; we need his information. Two, he IS my man, under MY command. If anyone has the right to kill him, it’s me.” The hand on her shoulder continued to press firmly, staring into the glowing eyes. “Understand?”

 

Without batting an eye, Chara answered smoothly, “Yes Mom.”

 

“Good.” Undyne let go of her shoulder, turning to clap and call the attention of the rest of the room. “Okay, everybody! We’ve been too slow to act! So we need a lot right now. Dogamy! Dogaressa! You guys are going to Doggo’s apartment; sweep everything that we can use to continue our investigation. Whether it’s a computer, documents, scraps of paper, photos, everything. And be careful. Those Anti-Monster goons might ambush you there.”

 

“Yes ma’am/Roger that Boss.” The married couple nodded. One of them hit a button hidden in the wall. The walls slid open revealing a storage compartment with various kinds of electronic equipment within. One picked out a tactical radio, earpieces and then distributed them to the other.

 

“Bro Guards!” Even in this stressful situation, Chara couldn’t help the funny feeling that stirred that she’d still never learn the two guards’ names. “You two, go escort Mayor Weatherford. Since they weren’t able to get rid of him, they might try to do it again. And don’t forget to request information of the people who are around the mayor. If they can plant spies among us, then the humans are no exception either. When you have any data, send it to Alphys and keep guarding him until you get the next order.”

 

“Yes, ma’am.” The couple answered simultaneously.

 

“Alphys.” The rough tone in her voice lessened, “Tell that long neck to come back and stay in headquarters until I have an order for him. The terrorists can kill one of our guys and if he stays alone outside he won’t be safe… and can you deal with the CCTV in the Riverside area for me please? That district is one of busiest areas of this town and in the middle of rush hour like this, if we don’t have an eye on the surveillance cameras, we’re done for.”

 

“Y-ye-yes, of course,” The young scientist could feel the cold sweat on her face but her hands were steady on the keyboard, ready to work. “I can do it.”

 

“That’s the spirit!” She turned to the tall skeleton, “And you, Papyrus-”

 

“I’m ready!” He jerked, standing immediately, hand tapping his chest to appear braver even though his face was pale and his words were antsy and jumbling. “I am ready to fight against evil in all respects! Just tell me Undyne! Say the world and I will drag the traitor down to your feet, make them face punishment-”

 

“Yes that is really, really great. But I have a mission for you.” The commander tapped his shoulder, “You have to stay here and help Alphys. Okay?”

 

Papyrus’s eyes opened wide. “Wha – n – no! Undyne I can fight -”

 

“Hey, Hey, I knew that bud. Just… take a deep breath alright? Breathe… that’s it…”

 

Chara doesn’t know exactly how skeletons could breathe, but she could see his ribs rising up and down, and after a few, long beats, Papyrus looked calmer.

 

“Listen to me. I want you to protect Alphys, because of everyone in this room, I trust you the most. But out there I can’t trust anyone anymore. There may be another traitor who’s waiting to stab us in the back again, who knows? …The Great Papyrus, will you take care of my beloved wife until I come back?”

 

The young skeleton swallowed. Took another deep breath and finally, his chest jut out confidently, clear intention shining in his eyes. “Lay it on me. As long as the Great Papyrus is still here, there is no danger around Doctor Alphys at all.”

 

“Very good. I trust you” Undyne slapped him on his shoulder a few times (It probably felt like get hitting by a yeti, but Papyrus never complained about it), before turning to the last person. “Chara.”

 

“What?”

 

“You’re on the team now.” She picked out one of the earpiece sets and pushed it against the other’s chest. “Put on the damn radio.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Monsters Security Agency was not the exactly real part of AMS. In canon they has an "Alliance Force" that's kinda one of government department that protect Monsterskind. so in this fic I would assume that MSA was a part of Alliance Force as well.
> 
> \- All of current time that Anti-Monsters's attacked time is not clearly defined in AMS canon. I just made it up for build an serious reporting's feeling.
> 
> \- The right wing Politic thing was an made up too.


	2. Part 2

_Five minutes later._

  
_Riverside, 84 Street Cross 15_

  
Undyne and Chara were waiting in a bronze sedan parked opposite from the entrance to the bank, about fifty meters away. The sun had fallen down. The road had begun to mingle with cars, making traffic almost completely jammed. Undyne was quite surprised, because even though she said herself that this area was pretty crowded, she had never found such heavy traffic in the street at this time before.

  
“Today is the first day of the Monsters’ Festival. It’s held at that park a block away from here. That’s probably why traffic is pretty jammed now.” Chara informed.

  
The Monsters’ Festival was a town-traditional festival, held every year to celebrate the relationship of and embrace the legends of the two races. Because the city is within walking distance of Mount Ebott it wasn’t surprising to find the community had a lot of legends about monsterkind. For the country, monsters aren’t just newcomers or invaders but rather a part of their history. That made the city one of the most ‘friendly’ to the monsters throughout the world. And the most important target of the Anti-Monster terrorists as well.

  
They celebrated the long ago tragedy. Laugh at the deaths that prevented anyone from forgetting. Nothing was more indicative of monsterkind than the past.

“Have the kids gone there?”

  
“MonFest? Not yet, but they want to go there tomorrow.”

“Good.”

  
Quietly, they both look at the bank’s door. Still no sight of the target.

  
The monster woman pressed the button for the radio under her sleeve. “Alphys, is the target moving soon?”

  
“He’s still in the process of closing the bank account. I - I think it might take ah… well… a few minutes.”

  
“How many people are inside?”

  
“Dozens, probably.”

  
She sighed. “Not now. Too many civilians involved; too hard to damage control.”

 

“You think there will be someone inside to help him?”

 

“Maybe, maybe not, but I’m not concerned about that.” Undyne turned to Chara directly, “I know what you’re thinking: 'He’s just one monster, with an attack ability that’s nothing special. How is it going to be hard?’ But Chara, there’s a reason Doggo got recruited to be in the Royal Guard.”

  
“Explain it to me.”

  
“He’s a canine monster. That means his ears and nose are more sensitive than other monsters’. If we move recklessly, he’ll know it so fast we won’t even see hide or hair of him. But that doesn’t bother me as much as his attack… "Blue blade”. You must be familiar with it, right?”

  
The listener just nodded.

  
"It’s designed to deal with enemies that are constantly moving. When we were still living in the underground we had met a um… a 'threat’; an agile threat who moved extremely fast and never stopped. They were so dangerous that they created a lot of serious damage to the monsters’ homes. After that event, Doggo was the man that I trained to be able to directly encounter that kind of threat. If the enemy moved, he would always kill it… well, at least, that’s what I trained him to do.”

  
“But we don’t know how it’s gonna be if he uses his ability for escaping, right?”

  
“Exactly.”

  
Something stills in their minds, but neither spoke up. Chara looked at the rearview mirror. She could see an ice cream truck (it had a 'Nice Cream Guy’ smiley face on it) parked alongside the sidewalk. The short and familiar melody was attracting children like a black light attracts insects. When two kids wearing striped sweaters ran past, she immediately turned to look at them. The little human and the little monster exchanged their ice creams with each other, curious how the others’ tasted. Laughter spread in the air, their bright eyes shining like stars that never extinguished…

  
The world is strange, creating so many pure things. Just for it to drag them down, break those things into a million pieces for nothing.

  
“How are your kids?”

  
“They’re okay. Don’t even know what happened.” Chara didn’t even have to look to know the interlocutor was trying hard not to look at the kids outside the car. For someone who once had to hunt down little humans like that for a living, looking at the eyes of an innocent little creature like that again probably made her feel like she was staring at a corpse. Just a bit, maybe, but still.

  
“And Frisk is… very stressed, but she can hold it together.”

  
“Your wife is a very brave girl.”

  
The husband of the person who had been praised smiled proudly. “Of course she is.”

  
“A very determined girl…”

  
“Stop it.”

  
“What?”

  
“I can see that pity pun coming from a mile away, so please for god’s sake stop.”

  
Undyne laughed softly. Usually, she was famous for showing intense emotional extremes. No matter if it was a roar or loud, clear laughter, it was always unique. But in a situation that required a stakeout in a small car, waiting to catch a guy becoming known as one of the most dangerous for monsterkind, all of that pressure caused her chuckles to leave her like that.

  
Silence again. Without taking her eyes from the children outside, Chara asked out of the blue, “Have you ever done it before?”

  
The asked turned her face to the questioner.

  
“Hunting monsters… people who look like you, but not as you. Have you ever had to get rid of them?”

  
The head of the Royal Guard thought. “Not really. I’ve had to deal with monsters who broke rules, but never destroy them… Did you?”

  
(Greetings.

  
I am Chara.

  
The demon who comes when people call its name…

  
What kind of monster are you?)

  
A mysterious smile appeared on her face. “Not exactly.”

  
The older sighed deeply. “There’s always a first time for everything in our lives. Most of them we can’t control. But the thing is, the only thing we have to fight to control is what is gonna be the last time for us. And that’s the only thing that matters.”

  
(Do you think even the worst person can change?

  
You can be SAVED too)

  
“I hope you’re right…”

  
_So much hope._

  
The radio sounded off. The team out to arrest the traitor straightened up, automatically alert. “The raid team has reached their destination now, waiting for the signal to strike. No sight of an ambush.”

  
Undyne nudged her partner, then used the hand to cover over her eyebrow, like when one might want to shield out the light in one’s eye, before pointing fingers at the direction of the bank’s entrance. It was the hand signal to tell Chara to watch over in that direction while she communicated with the others.

  
“Copy that raid team. Capture team is still waiting for the target. Escort team, what is your situation?”

  
One of the R.G. buddies replied, “Escort team still on the move. E.T.A. 15 minutes.”

  
The chief pressed a button, "Raid team, get in position. Breach it when you’re ready.”

  
“Yes ma'am.”

 

“Roger that.”

 

The sound of footsteps came out of the headphones. Someone had held the transmitter button in to be able to send messages while their hands were busy.

  
“Ready-Breaching!”

  
Banging sounds, wood cracking, followed by some confusing movements. The listener crossed her arms, concentrating on the details in the voices and sounds around there.

  
“Left clear!”

  
“Right clear!”

  
“Move to the kitchen.”

  
“Moving!”

  
The raid of the traitor’s apartment continued, from the kitchen to the other rooms. A long moment later, the radio sound was cut off for just a second, before Dogaressa sounded through the radio again. She had released the hold button on the transmitter.

  
“All clear, area is secure.”

  
Undyne sighed heavily, unsure how long she was holding her breath. “Find anything interesting?”

  
“His phone is here, dead. Some of his clothing is gone. Looks like he was in a rush. His visa, passport, all of the documents for leaving the country; he already took them all.”

  
“His sword is there?” Everyone among the guard knew that Doggo used a pair of short swords as his every day weapon. Besides his “Blue Blade” of course, which was more 'magic’ than 'weapon’.

  
The other side of the line was quiet for a while. “…Negative.”

  
Undyne turned to her companion. “He’s armed. Be careful.”

  
No reaction. But the chief knew that the other understood. She spoke into the radio again, “Anything else?”

  
“Holy shit boss! His room is full of dog treat ashes. This guy really needs to get some NA treatment.” Dogamy coughed over the radio, “Oh, hey. He left his laptop here too. Do you want me to turn it on?”

  
“D-Don’t touch anything!” Alphys interrupted. “It may be a trap. Stay away and look around it carefully. Make sure it doesn’t have a wire, tape, or anything strange around it. We - um - we can check what’s inside later when we can bring it back here.”

  
“Copy that. I’m going to take pictures around here and send it back to you.”

  
“Thank you.”

  
Chara nudged her teammate and nodded towards the door of the bank. “He’s there.”

  
There he was, the bastard who caused all of this chaos… He was still in the same leather jacket as this morning, likely with two short swords hidden underneath somewhere. Doggo looked nervous, almost panicking. On his shoulder he had two backpacks; one for clothes, and the other definitely for the cash.

  
“This is capture team; target is on sight. We’re going to take him in.”

  
Suddenly, with perfect timing that was beyond coincidental, the telephone rang.

  
It wasn’t from anyone’s cell phone, but from a phone booth that was in front of the bank. The noise cut through the air like a sharp knife, calling attention from everyone in the entire block to look at it wonderingly.

  
Chara paused. Undyne was holding the car door. No one sure what was going to happen.

  
Doggo looked at the booth like a deer looking into a car’s headlights… But then, to the surprise of his watchers, he walked to it and picked it up.

  
_Something is wrong._

  
_No, everything is wrong._

  
“Alphys.” The Royal Guard almost whispered, eyes still watching, “I want that line.”

  
“Thirty seconds.”

 

“Too late.”

  
Her cellphone is shaking. On the screen a text appears, advising the married dogs just sent photos to Undyne. Her attention goes to it for just a second when - -

  
**BANG! BANG! BANG!**

  
The windshield shattered, flakes of glass flying around. Both of them ducked down instinctively, while panicked screaming came from everywhere. The peaceful world turned to chaos in a split second.

  
“What the hell happened!” The monster woman shouted above all the noise outside. She peeked over the console to see three holes in the windshield that made cracks like a big spider web all over the safety glass panes. The surging crowd beyond looked like flickering shadows.

  
“Gunshots!”

  
“From where? Doggo?!”

  
Instead of answering, Chara pushed the door open. “He’s gonna get away! Hurry!”

 

* * *

  
Two bodies jumped out of the vehicle, soaring through the crowd like bloodhounds.

  
Doggo’s back was less than twenty meters away. He was running for his life, but the luggage made his movement difficult. Two backpacks didn’t actually cause too much weight, but it made him too slow, too bulky.

  
“Target is running now, we’re chasing on foot. It has - damn it!”

  
A bright colored backpack was quickly flung at them. Undyne parried it with her magic spear without a thought. The makeshift assault weapon fell apart. Pieces and scraps of clothing fell to the ground behind them.

  
“Someone just shot at us! Alphys, can you see who it was?”

  
“I saw that shot but - but I can’t tell where it came from, it’s out of sight.” The voice on the other end wavered. “A patrol is coming, twelve o'clock!”

  
The first they heard was sirens roaring loudly. Then blue and red flashing lights floating above the traffic. Two police cars parked, blocking the road to prevent other vehicles from getting in the firing zone. Four officers in uniforms and arms got out of the cars. They responded just because of the gunfire but they didn’t know exactly what the real situation was.

  
While Chara was still chasing, ignoring everything, Undyne quickly grabs the badge from her belt and showed it up over her head.

  
“Monster Guard! Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! We need him unharmed! Don’t shoot!”

  
Not noticing her actions or identity, the officers pulled out their guns and pointed at everyone still running. “Freeze! This is the Po–”

  
The canine monster threw his other bag at the new visitors, not pausing or reducing his speed at all. The men with their guns pulled the triggers by instinct without aiming. The muzzles flashed, sparking out with the sound.

  
Doggo and Undyne moved their heads down, hearing the bullets bouncing off objects and windows cracking somewhere. The screams intensified again. But no one gets hit.

  
Chara sped up. Not frightened. Not even blinking an eye.

  
The cash in the bag burst out, green papers flying into the air and making the police halt briefly. They missed spotting the canine monster taking a sharp cut into the alley at the left side or the young woman who chased after him. But they did see the half-fish monster who ran by last, dropping off some final words for them before she disappeared into the deep, dark alleyways.

  
“Friendly fire! You’re fucking stupid!”

  
Becoming aware of the situation, the policemen started to rush in that direction, only to find dozens of blue poles suddenly thrusting up from the ground, missing their noses by just an inch. They had come up in a group, completely closing off the entrance of the alley. At the end of those poles (that were about three meters high) were the sharp shapes of spearheads. It was too high and too dangerous to climb over.

  
The uniformed men looked at each other. One of the group pointed his finger, telling his friend to go around to the other side of the block. They fell back to their cars and drove off, the howling sound of sirens echoing along the building.

 

* * *

  
If someone could look down from the sky, they would find an amazing view. Three tiny things moved restlessly within the alleyways, like rats getting lost in a labyrinth with no escape.

  
However, from below, the view was different; one could actually see that the alleyway is one and half meters wide. The walls of the high-rise buildings stretched along both sides. The yellow-orange evening sunlight shining through touched only the buildings’ pinnacles, letting the narrow, wet, garbage-ridden alleys below sink into the dark. It made it feel like an endless, meandering concrete cavern.

  
Undyne followed the echoing footsteps, avoiding trash and materials strewn around. She swerved around the building’s corner and -

  
"Hold on!”

  
-bumped against someone waiting around it.

  
Chara grabbed her teammate, who, still in full sprint, almost made them fall onto one another. The two found something to grab by instinct: Chara held the pipe on the wall, while Undyne spread her arms, balancing herself between the walls on both sides.

  
Seconds later, dozens of blue blades flew at them like bullets.

  
It was a bizarre feeling, to see lots of sharp blades running through her chest but nothing happening at all. With a small, narrow environment like this… staying at a standstill was the only tactic that could deal with the broad attack that would injure moving flesh only.

  
The blue weapons soared through their bodies as if they were nothing, piercing into the brick wall behind them. When that attack hit on a lifeless object such as the brick wall, it impaled it like a hot knife through butter. It looked pretty horrific, especially for someone who saw it slicing through their lungs just a second ago.

  
Chara touched her body where a blade had just gone through. It left a cold, shivering feeling like the touch of sharp metal under skin and bone. Though, she already knew what that felt like; everything Frisk knew, she did as well. But this was the first time that she felt the sensation with her own body.

  
“Damn, Frisk had to feel this too?”

  
“You can go through your psychological understanding thing later! Just catch the guy first please?”

  
In the foreground, Doggo snarled when he saw the attack didn’t work. But between attacking again or fleeing, he chose the latter.

  
“Cut through there, get him from the front!” The chief commanded, before jump-kicking off the alley walls, switching between them and using them to push herself up onto the roof of the building. “I’m gonna drive him that way. Go!”

 

* * *

  
The half-fish monster leapt onto the roof, soaring nimbly under the sunset’s light.

  
In a pursuit situation, being above the target was always the most advantageous. That’s what she learned when she had still been hunting humans in the underground. It’s much easier when you could look down and see everything from every direction. Could observe every movement of the enemy. Guess their aim and plan a response to it by using the advantage from familiar terrain.  
When she lived in the waterfall area, the stone platforms up towards the cave ceilings connected to each other into a complex cavity system that covered almost the entire area. And she fully took advantage of it; that’s why waterfall was her playground. Whoever set foot in that area had no way to ever escape the eyes of the head of the Royal Guard.

  
The fact of the matter was the skill to pursue from above was not something that Undyne had ingrained within her since birth. The natural nature of a fish had no understanding of height but the inculcation of the king of monsters and hard training made her finally overcome the disadvantages she’d had from birth. And to be the leader of warriors, the acquisition of data for planning was very important. She had to learn to be a master on it, no matter if she liked it or not.

  
_For the King, for the monsters, for justice._ It is the oath that she took when she was inaugurated to be chief of the Royal Guards and she devoted her entire life to defend those things.

  
_But now, what am I doing exactly?_

  
The chief asked herself as she ran along the edge of the roof of the building. Outflanking her closely was the traitor who was still moving under her feet… Something was tickling hard against her instinct. It seemed wrong, completely out of bounds that she be doing this on the operation. She knew she might have a thousand biases flowing through her mind. Doggo was one of her longtime henchman. The head of the royal guard knew it was possible to feel wrong when she had to arrest him.

  
But it had… nothing to do… with this feeling.

  
_The feeling of being watched._

  
_The feeling of waiting._

  
It was dangerous, mysterious, like walking into overgrown grass and suddenly knowing there was a deadly, venomous snake hiding in there, but it was too late to go back.

  
She flicked her head, pushing away all thoughts and that cold, sweating feeling out of herself. She must concentrate. Think clearly. What did she have to do now? What was the mission?

  
Capture Doggo, alive.

  
Do that first. Anything else, later.

  
“Hey, you punk!” Undyne craned her head down, shouting to communicate with the guy below. “Don’t make it difficult alright?! We both know we’re not gonna run on like this forever. So just come with me and you will sa- -”

  
Blue blades thrust up instead of an answer. The negotiator almost couldn’t dodge it.

  
“You like it the hard way, huh! Don’t say that I didn’t warn you!”

  
The indigo spear appeared in her hand, along with dozens of spears that sprang up in the air around it. Those sharp points turned in the same direction as the one in Undyne’s hand.

  
“EN GUARDE!!”

* * *

  
Spears stormed passed, missing Doggo’s head by just a few inches.

  
Masses of spears thrown from above laced in front of the canine monster, making him brake suddenly. It was not the same as his own ability; Undyne’s spears had a blue tone just because they were made from water. But the substance was real and very strong, attacking effectively at every target type. Whether it was stopped or moving didn’t matter at all.

  
In a nutshell, no matter how crazy you are, don’t run through Undyne’s attack. Even Determination couldn’t help you through that.

  
The traitor was deadlocked, unsure what to do next for a moment. But, seconds later, Undyne was throwing her weapon at his face again. Doggo had nowhere to run unless he rushed back the way he’d come.

  
When had he gotten herded into this alleyway? He didn’t have to be the smartest guy in the world to know he was at a disadvantage. Even if the canine monster tried to fight back in some way, the only thing that he saw when he looked up was just a rain of spears. There was no time to do anything but run.

  
There was a three-way junction ahead. He had to choose between turning left or going straight. But one second before he touched a redirect point, a white flash of light appeared on the straight path and then a pack of spear poles rose up, standing majestically and blocking the entire lane. He couldn’t go that way anymore.

  
Doggo turned left by instinct.

  
Just to see shadows shifting and glowing eyes that made it look like the devil from a nightmare… Chara leapt at him, slamming him into a huge trash bin, the few-feet wide steel cylinder collapsing easily.

* * *

 

From the top view, the fight looked chaotic and hurried making it hard to help out from there.

  
It was a very small area, surrounded by useless but dangerous scrap. Both Doggo and Chara didn’t bother to slow down by reaching out for their weapons, just continued using their hands in the simple and savage style. Punch to punch. Kick to kick. Arms strangling the trachea. An elbow hit an eyebrow. They attacked each other with everything they had, almost without a pattern.

  
But Doggo had a significant advantage. He had what every dog had; sharp fangs.

  
So when Chara got pressed into the ground, it was a very bad situation. The canine monster darted across her body, strong jaws open just a few inches above her throat. It only got blocked by one of her arms pressing into his chin. From this close distance, they could even see each other in the reflection of each other’s eyes.

  
Fangs coming close, Chara had to think quickly.

  
Her other hand started to fumble around until it touched a solid object. She grabbed it, not even looking at what it was, and smashed it with full force into the temple of the body above her.

  
Glass shattered loudly. A bottle of spider cider exploded into a million pieces. Some of the broken glass impaled into his head, wounding him. Doggo shrilled out, backing away automatically.  
The young girl leaned herself up when the traitor stood, staggering away a few feet, hurt and angry. He roared, use the same trick, running at Chara who still couldn’t manage to stand firmly. Snapping at her and pushing her into - -

  
Bang!

  
A steel door was knocked open. Two bodies slipped through the backdoor of some room they didn’t know. Neon lights were bright in this room, mixed with people’s voices and the smell of boiling cooking oil that clouded the air.

 

* * *

  
Undyne jumped down from the rooftop, leaping inside the door.

  
It was like tracking a hurricane. The entire way that those two passed through was absolutely annihilated. Undyne had to dodge over debris of dishes and broken kitchen equipment lying around. Chefs both human and monster were standing around, astonished. Some of them had gotten bumped or were already lying on the floor. They tried to stand up, only to dodge out of the way again from another aggressive visitor.

  
“Move! Everyone, out of the way!”

  
Sounds of fighting were coming from the other side of the kitchen door that was connected to the dinner room. The Royal Guard ran to that heavy wood door, it swinging open as she bumped into it, leaving the glittering disaster of the kitchen behind.

  
  
Out of the kitchen, she found herself lost in the middle of the dinner room. It was an L-shaped room with entrances at the far left and right, with twenty tables in-between. Every table was full of customers. That was callous indeed; full of civilians, again.

  
It was like a completely different world from the dirty alleyway that she just got past. The carpet is clean and softer than her bed. The walls are decorated with black and dark purple wallpaper. The sleek, polished hardwood dinner tables are sculpted into fabulously beautiful squares. The smell of gourmet meals spread in the air. A pianist is playing a new single of Mettaton’s in a stunning Jazz n’ Blues version.

  
But in the middle of all this luxury atmosphere, among the customers was no sight of surprise for them. The captain of the monster guard had no sight of either her teammate or the mission’s target, as if they had suddenly just dissolved into the air.

  
What the hell?!

  
She pressed her radio. “Chara, where are you? Do you still have sight of him?”

  
Her headphone is completely silent.

  
“Chara! Do you copy?! That radio is for using not just wearing, god damn it!”

  
Someone was screeching. It sounded like the curse of a cat that had gotten thrown out from the fifth floor. She turned at the sound in time to see a waiter in a purple shirt falling back. The tray of food in his hand went flying in different directions. Steak in a calculator shaped face fell down on the carpet. Rainbow drinks splashed over the floor.

  
The man who knocked that unlucky waiter was a monster in a brown leather jacket.

  
With no other option, Undyne rushed after him immediately without her teammate.

 

* * *

  
The road appeared again but now on the other side of the block. The traffic was many times worse than that from the bank’s side. Vehicles were stuck on the road next to each other like a raft. Heat and smoke made the air so thick, so heavy, every breath felt like pumping burning oil and tar into the lungs instead of oxygen.

  
Hundreds of cars, thousands of people, all of it sent a confusing sound roaring in harmony. Undyne pressed the radio again, knowing there was no way she was going to find anything by herself at this rate.

  
“Alphys, which way?”

  
“He’s on the three o'clock. Across the road.” The other side said, considering. “Well… I’m - I’m sorry, but you might really hate where he’s going now.”

  
She was facing that direction, already knowing the answer without needing to ask. Nevertheless, she still moaned out, exhausted.

  
Among the crowd of people who were dressed in unusual costumes, a brown leather jacket slips through beneath the arch of the park. Above that door, there was a big, brightly colored label hanging there.

  
_Monsters Festival._

  
This chase had become a nightmare; the celebration of the year was one most people attended.

  
“Target on sight. I’m going after him.” Her next sentence was heavily stressed, "And tell me if you see Chara in the camera, okay? Damn, she just can’t play as a team or she’s allergic to technology, I don’t know!”  
  
Undyne never even knew that the woman on the other side of the line had opened her mouth as if to say something, but decided to stay quiet at the last second… Alphys really wanted to tell her about how it seemed rather it was the camera and possibly the radio that denied her baby fish. Once, there was a video camera pointed right in front of Chara’s face, but even then it couldn’t record anything from her. Not a picture, a sound, nothing.

  
It might have been coincidence, or fate. No one knows.

  
It was too awkward a thought to ponder in such a critical situation.

  
The scientist just blinked then tried to look for three people at the same time. She could locate Undyne and Doggo clearly. But as for the last one, there was not even a shadow to find.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Almost all of Undyne's background was non-canon. It comes from my head canon and adapt with many popular fannon of Undyne.  
> \- Mettaton's restaurant is absolutely non-canon. xDDD


	3. Part 3.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for reading this. And thank you Jad's 'Firekitten' for made it happen. I'm owe you so much. Have a nice day!

The chaser pushed herself through the bottlenecked crowd at the entrance. She scanned for the target amid the chaos. Loud music raced with laughing voices. The dazzled visitors were dressed in strange costumes. It was so hard to find anyone in this chaos.

There was a reason why many people also called the Monsters Festival “Ebott’s Halloween” and it was for only one reason: because almost every human who joined this festival dressed in costumes that mimicked the monsters. No one knows where it came from but the tradition of donning customary dress for the week of the celebration had existed recurrently for over a hundred years.

People in the city, especially the children, all looked forward to the festival in order to become a hero of monsters’ tale, whether it was a last Bonaparte of monsterkind who stood tall to fight in the war, Gerson the Hero, or even the robot superstar from the underground world, who had been gaining popularity in the past few years (That was one significant reason Undyne avoided coming to this festival).

There were some questions about the issue of racial discrimination, especially in the early stages when the monsters had just arrived onto the surface. Despite that, the fact was no one took those issues seriously. Most of the monsters were just satisfied that humans still remembered the story and mankind themselves was difficult to change what they had been doing for such a long time. As long as no serious problems appeared, the tradition would continue unchanged every year.

But now, Undyne began to see the problem.

Everyone looked the same; humans, monsters, anything that moved. It was difficult to distinguish who’s who in the commingling chaos. She had only one eye, but she dared to say that even with eight eyes like Muffet it would be hard to do. And it was most difficult for a monster who could only see clearly when things moved.

She had to find him, fast.

The captain of the Royal Guard hit the communicator switch again. “Alphys, I missed the target. Did you see him?”  
“Last time I saw him was at ten o'clock, b- but he’s gone now.” The voice from the other side trembled, "I’m sorry, really sorry. The program is scanning for his face now but–”

“We’ll find him, Alphys. Just keep looking.” Ten o'clock. Which place to head toward on that direction? Doggo might be panicked or completely freaked out right now, but he must still be targeted. A soldier like him wouldn’t run helter-skelter, she trained him better than that.

Her eye looked high, seeing a guide post that was almost blocked under the tent and another ‘fest sign. It said, ‘Subway Station’.

Undyne started to run again, plans building up in her head. “He was heading to the subway; we must stop all the trains that are going through this station now!”

“I - wait - what the hell?!”

That sounded inauspicious. “What’s happening? Alphys? Papyrus? Everyone alright?!”

“I can’t do that! I can’t control the train!”

“WHAT?!”

“I’m losing everything online now! CCTV, bank system, transportation system; I can’t access anything!”

“How did that happen?”

“I don’t know!”

The captain gave an unbearable roar. _What the hell is going on with my life right now?_ “Can you fix it?”

“I - I don’t know - I have to –”

“Yes, you can Alphlys, and you have to do it fast!”

Without waiting for an answer, the half-fish monster hastened, running through the crowd without slowing to avoid anyone any more. She didn’t believe in any mystical powers out there over herself. But this time, Undyne prayed to all of the holy and unholy things to help her now.

 

* * *

 

The scientist slid her chair back and forth between the computer monitors that were lined up on the half-circle tables, dancing amid the fortress of data that was going to collapse.

A giant monitor on the room’s wall flashed suddenly. The live surveillance video from multiple places, all lined up like a chess table, started flipping like dominos falling over to a blue screen with the words 'DATA OFFLINE’. The high pitched tone was like when a television station cut off the live broadcasting and it was much too creepy, especially with the synchronization of twenty channels simultaneously.

Alphys felt like her brain was going to explode.

“God please, no, no, no.” She groaned at the device in front of her, desperately trying to send commands to connect with it again. “How is this possible? How is that possible?!”

No answer from the computer. The words still appeared repeatedly, telling her the connection status had failed.

Alphys bit her lip. The old feelings spread into her chest like dark ink pouring into a glass of clear water. Fear… panic… regret… The negative feelings that had drowned her for many years, trapping her into a nightmare that never ended with the dark underground lab and heavy guilt. It sounded like a call from an old friend who had died a long time ago, something that buried itself into her innermost instincts where no one, even herself, could get to it.

 _No way. She wants me here._ The monster woman told herself. _You can’t control me. Not anymore._

The radio buzzed again. Alpays took her headphones off and passed it to a tall skeleton beside her. “Help me again please, Papyrus. I need to deal with this.”

The one just given communication duty made a confused face but still accept the headphones anyway, because between coding a computer program or maintaining contact on a radio, he was sure he could only do the latter.

“Ah, Dr. Alphys is dealing with another matter now. Can I help you, sir?”

“This is Papyrus, right?” Even though the signal was not too clear, it wasn’t hard to tell that was RG 2.’s voice. The sentence didn’t sound skeptical or had much feeling at all, just asked to confirm the identity of the speaker.

“Yes sir.”

“The escort team is in position now. But now we can’t contact the VIP on the mobile phones or the landlines. The butler’s tried an intercom already and he isn’t receiving a reply either.” RG 2 continued, “Do we have another way to contact him? Or look inside his room from some camera; webcam, mobile camera, anything?”

The skeleton looked at the big screen on the wall. Everything was still in the same eerie blue shade. “Right now, we have a problem too sir. All of our online systems are down now. We will have to wait for a while.”

RG 1 spoke up without any emotion in his voice, like everything going on was just a normal process that they usually did every day, “Roger that. Inform the chief and all units. Escort team is going to be breaching and searching for the VIP now. We’ll take action as soon as we’re ready. Standby.”

Once their line went out, another line immediately came in but from a phone call. Papyrus pressed the answer button and turned on the speaker.

“Yes sir?”

“I am Malcolm Sullivan from the Metro Control Center. You are Papyrus from MSAHQ, Alliance Force, right?”

The owner of said name glanced at the clock. Before Alphys put him on communication duty, he had decided to call the Metro Control Center immediately after knowing that all of online systems were unusable. That was only a minute ago. They had been contacted back sooner than he expected.

“Yes sir, I am Papyrus from MSAHQ. What have you got sir?”

“Look, we can stop all the trains but we’re stuck with a bigger problem. We must be approved by a higher authority, but right now we can’t contact him.”

Okay, he has to recant. The bureaucracy has never changed. “Who do we have to wait for sir?”

“Mayor Weatherford.”

 

* * *

 

Doggo knew he was slower than he used to be.

When he was living in the underground, he used to be able gallop at full speed, going far beyond three kilometers before his hand started to shake. That was just a basic ability of everyone who was a Royal Guard. But those times had passed long ago and he could not run all the way, especially frightened as he was now.

Of course, every single one of the Royal Guard’s members had to be chased by Undyne’s spear at one point in their life. But deep down, all the soldiers knew that in the end, those spearheads would always stop one millimeter away from the throat. She may be aggressive with a lot of things, could even set her house on fire three times a day, but she never made a mistake with her underlings. She could give them some real hardcore action, but would never overdo it to the point that it would cause a serious injury or death.

Which is not the same as what he had to face now.

A far different world.

Here it was like running away from a black hole, struggling to slip out of something that was bigger and stronger, like a natural disaster that couldn’t be stopped. The only thing he could do is just run, and run, and run. Like an endless, striding race on a wheel. The gray world was blurring at the corner of his eyes. Shadows moving and blinking around. The hole of fear was going to eat his heels, pull his feet, drag him down, melt him into an eternity of suffering. He had to keep moving, running, can’t stop, can’t think, just go on and on and on. Before they can get him, before he falls down to them.

_Them._

That is, the voice howling from everywhere; laughing, whispering, some of them making small-pitched sounds. Some of them made a low, deep sound like an evil growl. There are more than a dozen, a hundred, a thousand. Making an echo and vociferously harmonious like a melody of fear.

_Here you are… the dearest of all monsterkind._

_The man who knows the truth._

_The traitor._

Doggo was stunned, dread coursing through his body. Both legs couldn’t move, like they had gotten pinned.

They are here.

They found him.

_You can’t escape the last genocide._

_All of you._

The gray world began to squeeze, shadows looming up like a black sandstorm. It moved closer, surrounding, swallowing, and the laughter was coming closer too.

_Can’t run._

_Can’t hide._

_Can’t escape a way to die._

The shadow’s strangled around him. Laughter became a roar.

_We will always find you._

_And we will always kill you._

Something hit him from behind. He turned, facing glowing red, blazing under the wings of darkness.

~

The captain of the Royal Guard pushed the large groups of people out of her way when she saw it.

Something was flying across her and the tourists’ heads, over a meter higher in the air. It was somersaulting, spinning like a piece timber thrown by a storm. Seconds later, it slammed against the roof of the shop’s tent. Half the roof collapsed straightaway. Items in the shop bounced off in all directions. Cinnamon Bunnies spread onto the floor. Bicycles broke apart everywhere. Paper masks for transforming humans to monsters rapidly blew up into the air. But the shop’s owner ran out of that tent at the last minute, luckily escaping from the disaster.

Undyne swerved to the scene immediately, praying that what she was thinking happened was not the truth. She pushed some of the crowd out of the way and sat down to investigate the mystery thing.

It was a human body.

A female civilian, wounded and unconscious, but surprisingly still breathing. Her red hair was merged with the pool of blood around her head. A paper mask of a Temmie still hung on to her neck. She was unarmed and looked completely harmless. The only thing she did was be in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

The half-fish monster looked at the victim’s neck and saw the fresh fang wounds on it.

It was happening. The thing that she was afraid of this whole time. The real instinct of a desperate dog… When the canine’s consciousness was broken, no one was safe; women, children, monsters - nothing mattered anymore. All of their differences became the same: a threat or not? And in the mind of a panicking bloodhound there is nothing that was not a threat.

A whistling noise pulled Undyne to turn around, seeing uniformed guys running through the crowd which opened the way for them quickly. She remembered that they were the police officers who she encountered at the bank. Such a diligent and absolutely foolish bit of mankind, they still didn’t understand what things they had to deal with right now. Otherwise, they wouldn’t run towards the suspect, holding guns in their hands like that.

Too late to give warning. Her blue body jumped back to the road, looking in the direction that those policemen were heading to. Over there was a monument which had yellow flowers blossoming around the base. Far from the position that she was currently standing in, about thirty meters out, he was there.

The canine monster stood firmly, like he was ready to get hit by a truck. His fangs were sparkling. His eyes were wide open, deep, dark and unreflective.

A fully crazed mode.

In those critical seconds, everything slowed to a bullet’s time. Seeing the humans run at a rampant monster felt like watching a slow motion train wreck, but it was not just that. A new stimulus was added unexpectedly and what made cold shivers run all over Undyne’s body.

_A child._

They were dressed as a monster with fancy horns and long, purple robes. They were just turning back from buying a helium balloon, going to walk across the sidewalk and back to their family. But also straight into the middle of the firing line between the police and the monster, completely unaware of anything at all.

The world was still spinning slowly. The captain watched the three disasters getting pulled together. She had to think. To find a way to stop everything, or something; was there anything that she could do now? She couldn’t use any kind of spears here, there were too many people around and that meant too much crossfire possible. She couldn’t pull all four officers out of attacking range at the same time. Doggo himself was a little too far, she might be able to reach him but it was definitely going to be too late to stop him.

Time still moving. A decision must be made.

Undyne ran like hell. In fact, her body was moving before she realized what she really had to do. She cut through the crowd, punching out all the shops and stalls like an unstoppable bulldozer. Racing against the police’s pace and the target’s level of madness.

_Twenty meters._

_Fifteen meters._

_Ten meters._

_Guns aiming._

Blue blades pulling into the air.

A balloon floating, following the small body. Silence.

_Five meters._

The Royal Guard concentrated. She only had one chance.

_Three meters._

_Two meters_

_One._

Guns blazing. Dozens of magic blades were thrown. Between two sides of the disaster, Undyne jumped in the middle like a tiger leaping, grabbing the tiny human and pulling, dodging out of the way. Both of them rolled on the rough, stone ground, moving under the firing range where all of the attacks missed their backs by just a few inches. But the bright balloon was not so lucky. It took a hit and got blown up instantly instead of somebody’s head.

Just a hair’s breadth.

The world flipped around for a moment. There was a voice yelling in pain from somewhere but she couldn’t tell what was going on. She spread both of her arms and slapped them on the ground to stop their rolling. Then, all of her perspective was correct again; the sky is sky, the ground is the ground, as it should be.

The first thing that she looked for was the child. They got thrown out onto a grassy field, beyond the walkway but still not too far. They were sitting, looking around in quite a shock, not understanding what was going on, but without having been harmed. And that was all she cared about right now.

The next thing she saw was the familiar cycle of guns firing among a human crowd, bringing chaos. From her viewpoint it looked like a sea of legs. People screaming, panicking, footsteps stomping on the stone ground and sending vibrations right into to the hammer, anvil, and stirrup bones until her ears felt deafened. Undyne tried to lift her head up to see more clearly. She should get up now. Only god knew what was going on with those stupid cops. And where is Doggo- -

Sharp pain burst out from her left shoulder like a firework.

The half-fish monster screamed. Pain wracks her body like an electric shock. When she opens up her eye and looks at that spot, a blue blade is implanted there. It had penetrated deep through her left shoulder and nailed it down into the ground. She didn’t even know how or why it was there. That might be one of the most perfect blue blade attacks so far.

Because she had been lying motionless on the floor that was why the blade only stabbed through the flesh into a solid rock ground without creating any wounds. It acted like an anchor that held its victim’s body in place. But if the body under the blade started moving, the original rule of this magic weapon would be revealed: It was going to eat the victim’s flesh from the inside without any mercy.

The best guardian of the monster world just became a pathetic pinned doll because of that.

 _God damn it, not again!_ She cursed herself mentally. _Jumping out to protect people but never checking on your own safety. You never learn anything! Fuck!_

(Wait… again?)

(She’d done something like that before? When? How?)

(Where were these memories coming from?)

One set of footsteps was approaching, not impatient or confused like the others but steady, slow, almost hesitating. Undyne looked up to the source of the sound. Once again, her heart knew the answer before seeing it with her eye.

In the midst of smoky dust from human footsteps, in the shadows of confusing movements of the crowd… Doggo was walking to her. His movement was normal and he had no sign of injury. Both of his hands whipped to his back, reaching under the leather jacket and pulling something that was hidden out.

It was a pair of short swords, shining like the smile of a lovely old friend.

The breath of the chief stumbled. _Ah, shit._ She thought, _This is it, my ending is here._

The thing is, it was still just there. He wasn’t stepping closer; not even moving at all.

The guard and the traitor looked at each other. Probed each other. At this distance, she could make a water spear and attack him so easily. But he was prepared for it already. If she missed - and she might - those swords would cut her head off in a blink of the eye. And with a shoulder that was pegged down like this, she could not avoid it.

Amid the sounds of chaos, two monsters have a silent conversation together. This is a conversation between boss and subordinate, trainer and student, soldier to soldier, brother to sister, enemy to enemy… It sounded like goodbye.

Finally, Doggo took a step.

Slowly and carefully… He’d moved backwards. His eyes kept fixated on the body on the ground, hands still holding the swords, still on guard. And then blending into the crowd, like a wolf disappearing into the woods.

Undyne desperately struggled. Tried to pull her shoulder out of the clinging hold but it meant nothing but more pain. She knew there was a way to pull the magic knife out securely: just pull it out slowly, relax and hold her shoulder steady as much as possible. According to the theory, if the body was still but the blade was moving, everything would be fine. But the method needed time, and time is not on her side.

The traitor was leaving, this time for far away. But this freaking knife refused to move even less.

 _No! No way! No fucking way!_ She roared at herself. _I did not come this far to let that bastard get away with murder like that! I resist! I can’t! Damn it!_

It was easy to think, but hard to do. The fact was she had to watch him walk away and was unable to do anything. She can’t pursue, can’t attack, can’t control his path, nothing. The situation was totally out of her hands now.

“Alphys! Chara! Can anybody hear me?” Undyne yelled at the radio. “Somebody do something! He’s going to get away!”

_Like an edict..._

Doggo screamed. Suddenly, he collapsed on the ground like a marionette that got cut at the strings.

It revealed the one who hid behind in a semi-crouched position. The knife in her hand had fresh blood smearing it… she had appeared as silently as a ghost, attacked clearly like something evil.

_The demon that comes when people call its name._

**Chara.**

She might look like she came out of the air, but everything was already planned. It was a last-minute plan that she had made up, too hastily and without time to tell anyone but still ingenious enough to be effective, in the middle of the operation. …When she remembered the hunting dog had a good ear, she cut out her radio. The hunting dog had a good nose? She blended with hundreds of other humans, hiding a needle in a needle stack. She took herself to the most prominent point where she’d gather the least attention. Let Undyne pull away his mind while she slipped behind him, close enough to attack the target without getting hit back.

She became a ghost, invisible like she used to be.

That’s why no one saw her while she was walking among of crowd. No one knew where she stood, motionless, waiting for an ambush. No one could feel her when she was so close to the target, she could almost hear his pulse and smell his breath. Just waiting for the right time, silent and focused. Concentrating on the one thing that she knew how to do.

Only one thing.

~

Even though she saw it from a distance and her mind was still confused about what was going on, Undyne could still recognize those eyes. The meaning of them was so easy, clear and relevant to grasp. Just three words could explain the entire situation:

_Damn fucking hell._

The head of the Royal Guard tried to pull the blade out again, knowing in her heart that the percentage of getting that damn dog alive was plummeting down every second.

~

The traitor was prone on the floor. He tried to use his arm to pull himself into moving forward while both his popliteal were flooding with blood. The tendons had been cut; his leg couldn’t be used at all. A long, red path appeared where he moved.  
Chara stepped on that bloody path. No rush, no hurry; just filled with determination. She kicked away one of the short swords that Doggo had dropped, uncaring if it might bounce off to cut someone’s ankle.

It was just a few steps before she finally reached him. The canine monster flipped to lie on his back, trying to make a hopeless final fight. His weaponless left hand was held up. The blue powers formed up in the air, making a blade shape -  
The first fallen human leapt across his body, dropping a knee on his epigastric and stabbing a real knife into his left shoulder, the same spot that he had done to Undyne. Blood gushed. The blue blade disappeared in the air along with his ability to control his left arm. Doggo roared with pain and swung his other arm to attack again, but now it came with the other short sword in his hand.

He never even came close.

Chara easily grabbed the wrist and then flicked it down to the throat of the sword owner instead. The edge of the sword was away from his bronchial tubes by just a few centimeters, his leather, metal barbed collar the only thing between life and death. Its iron thorns scratched at the blade, making a clacking sound.

The canine monster held up that sword with all of his strength until the only hand that he could use started to shake. He snarled, but Chara had learned fast. She refused to bend down near those dangerous jaws again. And when Doggo turned out to be stronger than she thought, she began to use both hands, pressing force onto the blade. One hand gripped on Doggo’s to prevent him from releasing the sword, while the other hand pressed at his wrist.

The sharp edge suddenly moved down, scraping along the frightening-looking prickles attached deep into the leather band. Still, it was not enough to reach the flesh beneath it.

Chara hammered his wrist with all her might.

The leather collar was cut off easily. The impact at his neck made him choke, blade scratching into skin and making blood flow. But it still was not enough to kill him.

She raised her fist, prepared to smash his wrist again. This time would be the end.

“NONONONONO!!”

Along with the shouting came Undyne’s arm that hooked around the elbow of her child and pulled until her body was lifting off, away from the victim. She had saved Doggo’s life just in time.

She dragged Chara out to pin her against a lamppost that wasn’t too far away, hand pressing on the other’s shirt collar, eye staring into eyes. “Alive! I said alive! We want him Chara, we can’t kill him!”

The bloody eyes were still luminescent. Mysterious shadows overflowed from them, falling like the tears of dark tar. And when she tried to reach for Doggo again, Undyne felt like she was fighting against a tsunami.

“No! Chara look at me! It isn’t worth giving up our hand, trust me. Think about Frisk, think about your kids. How many times will they be hunted again if we lose this guy? What would Frisk want you to do?!”

Frisk’s name had some kind of magic, because suddenly, Chara stopped everything. Her breathing began to slow down and become deeper. The force that was trying to rush out was disappearing… She closed her eyes. And when she opened them again, the dark shadows were fading away. The flooding black liquid was drying off. The coals of fire in her eyes were finally changing back to their normal state.

That name could bring the demon to the light.

“Okay. Alright…” The young woman swallowed, still breathing heavily from the residual adrenaline in her blood. “… He’s leaving again.”

The captain of the Royal Guard turned quickly, seeing the bloodied body on the ground was plowing away even using only one arm. Even desperately suffering in that condition, he was still wanting to escape… Undyne swore, releasing Chara’s collar, then half-walked, half-ran to the target, yelling at him:

“Where are you going, you son of a bitch!”

The heel of a leather boot crushed into the wound on his leg, making it crack loudly. Doggo howled off into a groan, not noticing when his weapon was gotten rid of and the knife in his shoulder got pulled out. All of the sharp things were thrown off in opposite directions.

Faced with Undyne, Doggo seemed like he was starting to mentally break down. Even when he fought with Chara he hadn’t even blinked an eye. “Boss! Please, plea- ”

“Shut up!” Her hard punch hit the eye socket of the underdog, making a thudding sound. “You-” Another punch, “Mother-” And another, “Fucker!”

Curse words from all over the world still flowed out of the Royal Guard’s mouth. The numbers of them were directly proportional to the number of hits she was giving to him. No matter how his eye socket broke, bruised and swelled, or how many of his fangs fell out… Quietly, Chara walked over to pick up her knife, cleaning it some before keeping it out of sight. She looked at the brawl between the two monsters and couldn’t help but feel a little bit sorry for him.

Undyne might have told the truth about how no one could kill him because she had wanted to do it herself.

She sighed heavily. Her pulse rate was still high and no matter how much she breathed in, the air was still not enough. It wasn’t that the fight (which was more like her one-sidedly beating him up) could burn her out that much. But pulling herself back from the Genocide state consumed her energy and felt like being tortured in hell, like her entire body’s bones were melted down. It was hard to explain how that felt.

 _But at least we succeeded, right?_ Chara asked herself. _Harder than I thought. Had to run until I was bone-tired, but in the end we got him. It’s all over now._

A chilly feeling ran through her senses like an ominous wind.

_No._

Her breath paused, pulse speeding up again. Chara could feel goosebumps in the hairs behind her neck. Her glowing eyes scanned around carefully… People around there were less shocked and becoming curious instead. The onlookers, both human and monster, surrounded the scene. If they weren’t whispering to each other, they were taking video clips by their phones. But she could feel it. Somewhere behind the wall of the crowd, someone - or something - was staring at her with aiming, chilling, powerful, and vengeful eyes.

Deadly daggers.

“Undyne,” She said, almost whispering. “We have to go. Now.”

The one who’d gotten called didn't notice. But she had stopped beating the traitor already and was busy on attaching her hands to his wounds, using magic to stop the bleeding. It wasn’t much, just enough to stop him from prematurely dying.

  
“Don’t move. Don’t do anything stupid or I will cut all your teeth out and shove them in your throat.” She pressed her radio. “This is capture team. We got the package. I repeat, we got the package. Our team is secure, but I need a 11-41 at the park for five people injured and a B-wagon to take the package. Code 3 emergency.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” Doggo was still murmuring and whining. But with a bulging eye socket and a mouth full of blood, anyone would be whining as well. “I didn’t mean it to be like this, I’m sorry.”

“I said shut up!” Undyne pulled at his shirt collar unbearably, and found out that what Dogamy had said was pretty correct. Even with his body all covered in blood like this, the dog treat’s smell was still pungent over the scent of blood. That made her feel just a bit guilty. What was I doing? Why didn’t I know that my man had a serious addiction like this? Did he never smell his own stink?

“I-”

“You killed Greater Dog! You almost killed my grandchildren! You don’t have an excuse to beg for forgiveness anymore. Fucker!”

“W-Wait, the big guy’s dead?!” Through the chase and almost all the way here, she had only seen him lost in his own impending death. But this was the first time that he acted like his heart fell out of his chest. "Oh lord, I’m sorry, man. I’m really sorry, I didn’t know it was going to be like this…“

She pulled him closer to look at his face more clearly. Canine monsters could do a lot of things, including being a total asshole; but one thing that they didn’t specialize in is the skill to lie face to face. This guy probably did better than the others, but realistically he couldn’t be like that.

"What do you mean ‘you didn’t know’?”

“They took his ID card for me. They said they just stole it. I didn’t even know why they wanted me to do that. Damn! It’s such a disaster!”

“They are freaking Anti-Monsters but you’re saying you didn’t know they want to kill us!?”

“I don’t know! I didn’t think. I couldn’t think of anything. I almost couldn’t breathe when they looked at me. It was scary, so terrible. You don’t - you - you can’t understand.”

Wait a minute. This was getting upside-down levels of weird. “Bullshit! You’re a liar. If you really wanted me to help, then why the heck did you run away from me?”

“NOOOOO! No, hell no! I didn’t run away from you!” He wanted to shout, but a swollen face and so many missing teeth made him unable to do that. “They’re gonna kill me! They called me when I came out of the bank. They said they know where am I; they saw me! They told me that I _can’t run, can’t hide, can’t escape the path of death_. And then I heard a gunshot, then you chased me, the police shot at me, what could I do? How was I supposed to know if you’re them or not? How was I supposed to know who was who? They are everywhere, they are everything. Human, monsters, the god, the devil, they’re all of them!”

Undyne doesn’t know how many times throughout this day that she’s had to calm down a person freaking out. “All right, all right. Listen, I’ll help you. I’m here to help you. I am your friend. But I have to trust you, so you need to tell me something for me to make sure that you will not stab me in the back again. Are you okay with that?”

He nodded repeatedly.

“Do you know who’s the leader of the Anti-Monsters? Or the other advanced members who have an authority to order an attack? Did you see them before? Did you ever talk to them?”

“Yes, I did.”

“You can identify them?”

Suddenly, the traitor’s eyes were wider. In the deepest part of those eyes, there was only a pure feeling shining in them.

_Fear._

He’s whispered, “She’s here.”

While the interrogation was ongoing, Chara was still looking around. Her eyes couldn’t see anything wrong, but her sense of touch felt that shivering feeling. It was surrounding, strangling every second, like a glass cover that was shrinking around them. It was getting closer and closer. Strangling, swallowing.

This was the killing zone.

“Undyne, seriously, we have to move, now!”

Undyne, still unaware, only focused on the traitor. “What did you say?”

“Red like blood. sharp like death. She’s here.” He cried. The powerful horror tore his soul deep down. _“Here.”_

**BANG!**

The canine monster’s head flicked, a red flower of death blooming at it.

That second was heavy and silent… Undyne still looked into his eyes. Stared into the clear glass that had a life and feelings. Saw a mysterious spark in the deepest spot of them. And then… everything was fading away. The eyes turned cold – lifelessness clouding them.

One second, he still existed. The next second, he was gone.

The captain of the Royal Guard was still looking at the dead body, like she couldn’t believe what she just saw. Doggo’s body crumbled to powder quickly. Every single hair, every single bit of flesh, even the blood that spit outside his body was already changing to a dazzling shimmery dust. It was smooth as snow, shiny and sparkling like crystals. Only the clothes and accessories in the pile of white ash could even tell it had used to be somebody’s body before.

While Undyne saw the death, Chara saw movement… That split second, after the gunfire, in the moment that everyone was stunned by the new situation, she saw them. That was the one who moved with perfect timing. The person who immediately walked away when the shooting happened, while everyone else stood still in shock. Who didn’t get distracted by the melodies of death. Who had a smile in the corner of her mouth. Her robe flicked when she disappeared into the crowd.

The gunshot was a spell of chaos. The curious crowds quickly became panicked again… The young woman ran after that mystery person immediately, leaving a pile of monster ash behind and with no time to say anything to her teammate who was still staring at the white dust on her hands.

 

* * *

 

She wore a long robe, hood covering her head. She walked through the people with a relaxed pose but also incredibly fast. No matter how much Chara tried to pursue them with her full speed, she still couldn’t shorten the distance. It was like chasing a shadow, impossible to catch it.

The mystery woman walked into a tunnel that was connected to the subway station. She followed her, close behind.

The body in the robe walked down the escalator. Her chaser ran after her, hurriedly, until the people on the escalator had to make way for her. Even then, Chara could only see her back, just a blink in her eye before she was out of her sight again.

The one being pursued had attached a metro ticket to the station gate. Three seconds later, Chara jumped over that same gate. The security guard didn’t have a chance to see what was going on. She ran down to the junction between the platforms on the left side and right side. She didn’t see her anymore, but when she heard the sound of a train stopping at the right side’s platform, she headed to it immediately.

She was there. The woman with a black hood. Of course, that mystery gunwoman wasn’t the only one who wore a hood on this platform. But she remembered that smooth stance of her. Her chaser sped up. Almost reaching - -

The train door opened. Half of the city’s people came out of it like waters gushing out of a dam’s gate. Not expecting that, she got blown away by the crowd, almost losing her balance, but the packed crowd helped her to keep standing… Gone! She’d disappeared. Among a great number of people like this, she had lost the target again.

She must find her. She must be somewhere!

The young woman swam in the sea of people, switching to look into the window of the train’s door and on the platform… After the train stopped for tens of seconds, the crowd became sparse. That made her job a little easier.

There she is! The woman under the black robe and hood. She was going to get in the last car. Chara only had a few seconds before the train left.

She ran for her life.

The Anti-Monster woman stepped on the train and stood at the door for a moment. And then, as a surprise to the other, she turned back and removed the hood from her head.

Chara braked, the distance between her and that woman only one step between the platform and train door.

_Eye to eye._

Stunned, frozen, petrified… The subway’s train door cried softly when it gently slid closed. Behind that half-glass door, the sharp smile widened on the face of that mysterious woman. Chara’s reflection on that door was her own face with wide open eyes, completely shocked. It seemed like she’d forgotten how to breathe.

Millions of memories flashed in her mind, as if it was the last moment of her life.

The train roared. It leapt out of the platform. The reflection on the glass twisted around like a façade of varying emotions. She still stood there, like her body had become stone for a moment. Her brain was empty. The whole world completely vanished from her mind.

 

* * *

 

In fact, it’s a nice day. Birds are singing, Flowers are blooming… Perfect weather for a game of catch.

The last light of the day had an intense red tone. It caused a glaze on everything, creating long-distorted shadows behind everything it touched and made the illusion between light and dark. Everything looked different, everything looked the same…

Asgore stepped out of his car. After he came up on the surface world, he had grown familiar with his Hawaiian shirt and comfortable shorts. He finally got a chance to place the heavy crown down and let go of all the queasy feelings that had consumed him for so long. But now, he was in a politely dark blue suit. It was important to act formal in critical situations like this.

The king of monsterkind walked along the stone paved path. His shadow spread over the petals of yellow flowers. The former king of the underground world looked up to the monument above those flowers.

It was a sculpture of a monster who carried a human body in his arms. The light shining from behind it made the face of that monster become buried in the shadows. But Asgore didn’t need to see it. That face was still vivid in his mind. Could see it everyday when he closed his eyes, could feel it every night when he slept and dreamed.

Their history started from the tragedy here. Time passed. Human blood and monster dust has touched those flowers again. Nobody had learned anything at all…

The big, tall monster sighed hard before lifting the police’s yellow tape and sifted through it. Behind that line was a full forensics unit. Numbered labels that showed locations of evidence had been placed around the ground. Humans and monsters in contamination protection suits were walking carefully around the scene. Camera’s flashes lit up periodically. All of the red stains had a white chalk marking a circle around it, but they didn’t make any sign of a human’s body. Amazingly, no human beings had gotten killed in this incident.

He looked at one large, orange circle. There was nothing in there now, but the only reason they had used a different colored chalk was because white chalk was too easy to contaminate the evidence. He knew instinctively what used to be in that circle.

Asgore felt that he shouldn’t be here. But he refused to walk away, and no one wanted to push him out either… The goat monster walked along the edge of the crime scene and headed to the blue body who stood at one corner. Undyne was holding a scrap of a leather collar, looking at it as if she were reading something in it. Her back hand was full of wounds from punching too much. It was bleeding. But she didn’t care.

Even if there was no reaction, Asgore knew that his best Royal Guard could recognize when he’d arrived. The two monsters stood together, side by side. The guard and the king, teacher and student… father and daughter… They could feel each other’s mind without saying a word, they didn’t even have to look into each other’s eyes.

Finally, Undyne sighed deeply. “… Before sundown.”

The older raised his eyebrows. “What does that mean?“

"The gunman. That guy who we arrested. He told me in the middle of the interrogation. He said, before sundown they will 'clean up’ everything. Today was the day, everything had to be completed. All the witnesses, all the missions still uncompleted, had to be done before night came. Whether they had failed many times before or not, this time they would not… No one can stop them. And when tomorrow comes, a brave new world for mankind will rise again.”

The captain of the Royal Guard pursed her lips. “He said it in my face. I’m standing there, listening to that impudent challenge from him. I knew what was going to happen. I knew what I had to do. But it all still happened.”

“It’s not your fault…”

“Of course it is. You trusted me, you told me to protect monsterkind. You let me take care of the remaining crew. To make them safe, that is my duty… They shouldn’t have to die for nothing like that. So yes, it’s all my fault.”

Undyne looked at him, “I’m sorry, sir…”

Asgore wanted to say something, but she walked off, nodding to one of the forensics unit members and put the collar in her hand into their evidence bag, before ducking under the police line, walking away in silence.

The boss monster looked after her, but his eyes met a human child’s who was still dressed as a monster. They had a purple cloak on their shoulders and a hat of goat horns on their head. But their eyes, full with panic and terror, looked straight at him…. He knew those kinds of eyes. They were the eyes left when innocence is gone… The eyes of a human child who understood for the first time what real monsters were like.

Asgore avoided those eyes. The old, familiar guilt trembled in his body again.

 

* * *

 

Papyrus removed the headphones and walked towards Dr. Alphys who was frozen in her seat, looking at the screen on the wall like she was about to cry.

But Papyrus isn’t crying. He’s shocked.

Because all the screens in the room were changing to a picture of a monster’s face that was struck through. It became a wall of Anti-Monsters symbols, surrounding them. And it wasn’t happening in only their private office but in every room, every PC, every single device that could be online and had a connection with a screen, all of them displayed that same symbol.

All the staff in the offices were gaping. Nobody thought that it would happen… The center of Monster Protection’s security system was severely destroyed by the terrorist group. A nightmare come true.

 

* * *

 

RG.1 and RG.2 slammed into Mayor Weatherford’s bedroom door, finally able to get it to open. They swooped into the room, checking the area quickly before they let the butler of the mansion follow them in.

There was a window left open. The sunset light shined through from that way, covering the body on the table like a bridge of heaven… He was face down on the polished wood table, his nose dipped in a pool of blood that flowed from a slash wound at his throat. His right hand, the hand that used to shake the other monsters’ hands and greeted them with equal respect, now was pinned on the table with a knife. And in the middle of his bald head, it had a symbol exquisitely carved by a knife.

Anti-Monsters symbol.

RG.1 looked at the laptop at the right hand side of the deceased, placed just a few inches away from the bloody basin. It had a wall of program commands running quickly on the monitor but no one there understood it. But if Alphys could see it she might have fainted right there without question.

It was the computer of one of the most important alliances of Monsterkind. It was the computer of the high commissioner who had access to almost every monster database - even the high security level. But now, it was running with the hacker’s command to break the firewall of MSA’s database system. The identity of all monster citizens and everyone who supported them were being dragged out. Whether it was addresses, internet aliases, safe house locations, data of the family members, all of their secrets - all of their privacy was shattered. Nobody was safe anymore.

 

* * *

 

Sans leant against the window frame (they had closed the curtains for security reasons), looking at his 'kiddo’ talking on the phone while her other hand pressed at her temple. She had a glass of water and aspirin on the table. The water wasn’t cool anymore, but the woman who needed to take it still hadn’t had a chance to even glance at it.

Many things happened this afternoon. Through Frisk’s conversations on phone he had heard only brief bits, but it was enough for him to understand what was happening. The mess at Sci-Tech still hadn’t been fully unraveled from her before another mess swooped her in again. It had many people injured and someone was dead. It had a crowd associated with the chaos. She would have to prepare for a lot of hard questions at the next council. Not to mention those hungry media reporters… This would be a long day for a little ambassador like her.

Finally, Frisk hung up. She tucked her face in both hands, just wanting to hide from the world for a moment. But when the door opened with the voices of Caroline and Azriel, she looked up and smiled, reminded of what kind of world she wanted to live in. What kind of world that she was fighting for.

Toriel followed in after the children arrived. She looked at the eyes of the skeleton monster. He nodded with understanding before pushing himself up and going to leave, giving space to the room’s owner and her children. But before leaving, Sans peeked at the curtains, looking out.

He couldn’t see it, but he could feel it.

Something was watching them from the outside.

It was a gorgeous picture. The view was almost the same view he saw on the top of Ebott mountain, on that day of freedom. The huge sun going to drown beneath the water, leaving the last red light to touch everywhere. Reflections flashed on the sea, loomed over the buildings, through narrow valleys and high, sensational mountains. It was all illuminated under the red garnet tones.

He couldn’t help but think right now, was the world soaking in the blood?

 

* * *

 

Chara’s eyes were red as blood.

They glowed, illuminating the shadows that began to spread over her eyes again. Not because of anger, not because of despair. But because of the deep, dark fear in the bottom of her heart.

It was like looking down into the grave of a lover, hearing a voice that whispered, calling out from there.

There were so many things that Chara had buried, hidden in the shadows of her life. Some things just got put in an invisible place. Some things were just forgotten, disappeared into time. But they all had something in common: she had already turned away from it all. Flicked it away along with the old life that mired in a pool of blood and eternal killing. Some things were plastered with red. Some things she still saw, just a fraction of them behind her eyes when she closed them.

Now… all the pieces are spinning, lured into the black hole of her heart again.

Now, she remembered.

_She remembered everything._

**END.**

 

* * *

Askmercyseries’s new Arc.

“The Last Genocide”

[OUT NOW.](http://askmercyseries.tumblr.com/post/144933585845/next-page)

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- Monsters Festival was a canon on AMS. but all of the history and the “Ebott’s Halloween” thing was made up by me.
> 
> \- Malcolm Sullivan is a my original Character. Appear only in this story. Didn't have anything with canon AMS or Undertale itself.
> 
> \- 11-41 was a Police Radio Codes for Ambulance's needed. Code 3 for use lights and siren. and B - wagon was kind of jargon/slang term for Police's prisoner transport truck. or that many people know in the name "paddy wagon"
> 
> \- The Monster's monument in the park was an non-canon too. actually, everything in that park was non-canon. xDD


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